Kick Off.

24th July 2010.

Opening Day Tables..png

Excitement has been building as today sees the opening day of the season in both the Scottish Premier League and Welsh Premier League seasons.

Welsh Preview.

Cardiff and Swansea are the sure fire favourites to run away with the division in their first season in the top flight of the Welsh domestic league. Hopes are high that the huge level of interest throughout Wales will continue as for the first time a truly Welsh national league will be competed for.

Aside from the big two, Wrexham will hope to make headway and push for third place and in that fight they will face a struggle against what should be disciplined Newport and Llanelli sides. Last seasons champions TNS will also be pushing for a top six placing.

At the other end of the table, Colwyn Bay, Airbus and Port Talbot, Aberistwyth and Bangor will be doing their best to avoid relagation. Seeing as due to the English League money their stadiums are up to scratch and due to the TV money they are going full-time, this will be an important season for them.

In terms of the opening day fixtures, match of the day is either Cardiff v Airbus in what is Cardiffs first game back in the Welsh League, live on pay-per-view SPLTV2, and Wrexham who visit to Llaneli who are playing this season in the Scarlets Rugby Stadium in another live televised game, avaliable to subscription viewers of SPLTV1. Swansea play their first match of the season on Sunday at home to Bangor in what should be a comfortable win for the Swans.

Scottish Preview.

Another season kicks off in Scottish football, this time due to league expansion with 14 clubs, one in which many questions will be asked.

In terms of the battle for the title, Rangers and Celtic as always will be up there battling away, but the question of whether a trhird force could challenge them is up in the air. One would hope that Hearts, Hibs or Dundee United will show more consistency and put up more of a challenge than in recent years. In reality however, they will be battling, one suspects for third and the guaranteed Europa League spot it gives.

Dundee, in administration and currently barred from signing players and starting with a ten point deficit will do well to emerge in any position other than the bottom spot in the league, the only spot which guarantees relegation.

This leaves aside the fact that the fear factor is due to return to the SPL this season, as after the split alongside the bottom team, who will be relegated, the teams finishing 13th, 12th and 11th will play off with the runners-up in the First Division with one side from the play-off being relegated. This, one would think would mean teams such as St. Johnstone, St. Mirren, Inverness and Hamilton could be drawn into a relegation dogfight. Unless they are careful, it could draw bigger sides in as well.

As for the opening day fixtres, Rangers face a tricky opener at home to Hearts, there is a New Firm match as Aberdeen play host to Dundee United, Kilmarnock will be hoping for three points from a visit to Dens Park where they play Dundee. In the other matches Celtic travel to St. Mirren, St. Johnstone play Inverness and on Sunday Motherwell and Falkirk do battle.

Its time for kick off.....:p

Opening Day Tables..png
 
Was thinking about a draft system recently (been watching Manchester United's US tour). Now such a system is ASB for soccer since club's very much like their current arrangements, i.e. managing things in-house - and you also have a league with promotion and relegation. Could you really send your very best young players to the absolute bottom tier of football?

Whilst the draft system keeps US leagues competitive and stops any team dominating in the same way Real Madrid/MUFC/Barca/Liverpool/Rangers/Celtic have done, it also dilutes talent. This is fine in a closed system but when these teams play sides from outside of these restrictions, they're at a real disadvantage.

New England Revolution = Karl Marx
Real Madrid = Ayn Rand. Sadly.

This is long way of saying that I have no idea how you could make Scottish football more contested! But good luck figuring a way for Aberdeen or Dundee to win the title by 2020 :)

What about a salary cap?
I've added a rule stipulating that at least 6 players in the starting 18(11+7 subs) must be trained by a club for at least three years between the ages of 0-21. This should encourage more of a market between the SPL clubs. Also, the gap is just as bad in other countries such as Spain. Also, the gap has reduced in recent years, the Old Firm are now beatable by the other clubs. Its just a case of consistency.
 
Have you kicked Berwick out of Scotland?
No. As stated, this was a court case brought forward and linked in with the English FA due to the Welsh clubs entry into the Welsh Cup. This led to a campaign, mainly from other Championship clubs to get the Welsh clubs kicked out of the league and to be made to play in the Welsh League.

Cardiff and Swansea took the FA to court, but settled following a protracted battle(I suspect due to impending defeat) with the FA in a deal which saw the Football League give Cardiff and Swansea some £15 million each(a smaller amount paid to the other Welsh clubs in English competition) and also pay for the grounds to be renovated of the Welsh Premier League clubs so they could cope with the fans through the turnstiles.

The SFA have never raised the status of Berwick.
 
Last edited:
25th July 2010

Opening day resaults.

Scottish Premier League.

Aberdeen 2-1 Dundee United
Dundee 4-1 Kilmarnock
Hibernian 1-0 Hamilton
Motherwell 1-1 Falkirk (14:30 Sun)
Rangers 3-0 Hearts (12:30 Sat)
St.Johnstone 0-3 Inverness CT
St.Mirren 0-1 Celtic

Welsh Premier League

Aberystwyth 1-1 Merthyr T
Cardiff 4-2 Airbus
Llanelli 0-2 Wrexham (17:30 Saturday)
Newport 4-1 Colwyn Bay
Swansea 2-0 Bangor (12:30 Sunday)
TNS 1-0 Port Talbot

Match Review

Cardiff 4 Airbus 2

Cardiff survived an opening day fright against little Airbus, who came back from 2-0 down to bring the match level with only two late goals giving City a victory over the minnows. Jay Boothroyd opened the scoring with a thundering shot from the edge of the area after just five minutes. Things got better for Cardiff after 32 minutes when Stephen McPhail doubled their lead with a close range effort past the helpless Kristian Rogers in the Airbus goal.

Airbus, to their credit though battled back and after 38 minutes they got their reward for their persistance when Carl Owen pulled on back with a superb solo effort. They continued in this vein the the second half when Danny Desormeax drove the 50 away supporters wild with delight as they equalised.

The superior fitness of the Cardiff players began to tell however as the match went on and a mistake by Airbus defender James Davies let Bootroyd in for his second with an easy tap in. Cardiff completed the scoring when Craig Bellamy scored with seven minutes to go from a header following a corner kick. Cardiff must improve, but the signs are good for Airbus going into the season.

Cardiff. Marshall, Quinn, Naylor, Hudson, Gyepes, Burke(Drinkwater 12), Koumas, Olofnjana, McPhail, Boothroyd, Bellamy.
Airbuss. Rogers, Edwards(Burgess 75), Davies, Clowes(Cook 52), Woodward, Hamilton, McManus(Hinton-Jones 83), Desormeax, Williams, Owen, Jones.

Attendence. 22,296

St. Johnstone 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3

Inverness celebrated an emphatic win in what was an ill-tempered encounter to kick off the season in Perth. Inside the opening 14 minutes, Saints had two players booked for various challenges and Danny Grainger stretchered off after a suspect challenge from Adam Rooney, but despite this had the better of the early exchanges with Sam Parkin going near after ten minutes.

Inverness were not to be denied though and after 20 minutes, Ross Tokely skinned Alan Maybury to fire a shot which went straight into the top right hand corner of the net. Things got worse for the Perth Saints when after 40 minutes Kevin Rutciewitz was sent off for a second bookable offence. As it was Terry Butcher was the far happier manager as the teams went in at half-time.

As the second half progressed in much the same vein as the first half, Adam Rooney flew past Saints sub Steven Anderson with a darting run and a magnificent finish to make it 2-0. Following this, the Saints manager pushed his players forward, and Saints were given encouragement when ICT captain Richie Foran was sent off for bringing down Gartland on the edge of the area. The chance was however wasted. As Saints chased the game, Johny Hayes finished the rout. Saints will be wondering what happened. Inverness will be delighted.

St. Johnstone. Enkleman, Maybury, Rutkiewitz, Duberry, Grainger(Gartland 14), Myrie-Williams, Davidson, Moon, Craig, Parkin(Haber 63), Dobie(Anderson 43)
Inverness CT. Tuffey, Proctor, Tokeley, Munro, Gillet, Hayes, Cox(McBain 74), Duff, Shinnie(McCann 64), Rooney(90 Curier), Foran.

Attendence. 4,539.
 
Last edited:
Top